Part 1 | Chapter 11 ~ Slackin’ Off
All week had been filled with notes, books, talk, and work. I'd been going with Cassidy and her friends to study everyday after class, just to prepare myself for upcoming exams. I was completely and utterly dedicated to getting all of this done, but Lance, who had decided to come along each and every time I left, proved otherwise.
Like right now, for example.
It's Thursday, 5:00.We're all at the diner, eating dinner and freshening up on the subject of provocative language, thanks to Lance.
"This chillin is shit." The male commented, shoving the bowl away.
"Oh, what? Think you could do better?" Cassidy mocked with a grin.
"Most definitely." He smirked.
"I think it's just fine." I spoke up, spooning at the beans. He was right though, their chili was awful.
"Really? You're death like stare says otherwise." He teased.
I gave no response as I continued to read my textbook. Everyone else had put theirs away, and just took their break time to talk and eat. I didn't have time to however, let alone the pointless conversation they were having was out of my style by far.
"Any of you up for a walk to the arcade? I hear that a new game is being unveiled at 7:30." Lance twitched his lip into a cocky smile.
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Lance was such a distraction! I wanted to tell him off to let us finish studying, but just before I opened my mouth, I noticed the abundance of nodding heads around the table.
Are you kidding me?
"I'm going to the hairdressers later for an appointment." Rylee stated, unbothered as she messed with a flimsy acrylic nail.
"I'll pass. I'm not the video game type." Miguel declared.
I glanced to Cassidy, who stared back. She shrugged her shoulders apologetically and looked at Lance.
"Fine." I stood up, closing my textbook before shoving it into my backpack.
"Sneakers-" Lance grinned.
"Oh no, don't wait up for me. I'm going home. And once all of you fail that exam tomorrow, just because you hung out with this selfish prick, maybe you'll think back to this moment and wish you would've done the same thing."
I gripped my bag tightly and headed for the doors, pushing them open before storming back down the street.
"What a bunch of procrastinators.. I'll be waking up bright and early tomorrow morning to study, and I'll get a big old A on my test. Yeah. I'll show them." I muttered angrily to myself.
"Calvin!" Cassidy's voice behind me shouted.
By instinct, I wanted to turn around- but I was already set on going home.
She jogged up beside me instead.
"Are you kidding me Cal? Starting a scene like that?"
"He deserves it. They all did." I mumbled.
"They don't deserve anything, Calvin. Lance was simply offering a break. We've been working hard all week."
"Well maybe I don't want to go to a stupid arcade!" I shouted.
"Then why didn't you just say that! Rylee and Miguel said they didn't want to go, so why didn't you?" She stepped in front of me to stop me in my tracks.
I opened my mouth to respond, but I had nothing. Dammit.
"Lance is trying to be nice to us Calvin. All of us. He's not drinking, he's not smoking, he's just talking. Back there, you really hurt his feelings."
"Oh, I hurt Lances feelings." I scoffed.
"Yes. You did, Calvin." She stated sternly. "And if you were smart, you would apologize to him right now."
I stared at her for a moment, before lowering my head. No way.
I shoved past her and trailed back down the street.
Cassidy sighed. "If only he knew.."
*****
I sat in silence within the dorm, my books at my side on the bed as I scribbled at a paper resting against my upturned knee for review. I hadn't given much thought to earlier, it was roughly 3 hours ago.
By 8:30, I heard the door unlock, and Lance walked in. He tossed his bags onto his bed and pulled his shoes off, letting them loose on the floor at the end of his bed.
I couldn't help but glance up at him as he was grabbing his pajamas. He didn't look hurt.
But he didn't look so happy either.
"How was the arcade?" I asked.
He didn't respond. Typical.
I set my pencil down and faced him, only to see him changing. It didn't really bother me though, he dressed himself into those clothes so fast it didn't even give me a chance to peek at anything.
"What game came out?"
Once again, no response.
"Was it fun?" I asked, trying for the final time.
"Wouldn't you like to know.." He muttered harshly through a growling tone.
"What's that supposed to mean?" I cocked my brow.
"Oh don't play stupid Calvin." He pushed his dresser drawer closed. "You're the one who called me a selfish prick, so why don't you tell me?" He turned to face me.
What a jackass.
"I was asking you a question, Lance. Why don't you mellow out." I huffed.
"I can't believe you. How hard is it just to say sorry! It's just five little measly letters put together to make a sound. Just say your sorry!" He shouted.
"I don't have anything to be sorry for! All you've been doing is distracting my friends, keeping us from studying important material, and turning our whole plan into nothing but a joke!" I returned.
"I'm trying to make them smile, is that just too much to ask, Calvin?" He glared at me.
"Well you're not doing a very good job!"
"There! There you go again! Yelling at me for something when I've done nothing wrong! Just say you're sorry!"
"No!" I argued.
"Just say it!"
I groaned aloud, hurling my textbook at him.
By then, a full blown war had begun. We threw pillows and books, possessions and materialistic tools. They started to pile up in the middle of our room, a mountainous mound of things.
With ease, Lance could've knocked me out cold and thrown me out the window with his bare hands if he wanted to.. But he remained on his bed and I remained on mine.
We started slowing down as he began to run out of things to throw, each standing up to try and continue our streaks of madness.
He picked up a dirty pair of his boxers and tossed them at my face. Horrified, I tried to pry them off as he wrapped his arms around me and tossed me to the carpet. Moments later, he was sitting over the top of my stomach, pinning my wrists back and scowling directly into my expression.
"Say it." He demanded. "Now."
I was silent. We just watched each other for a long moment.
But that's when I did something that.. Mostly changed what I thought of him. Or what we could do.
"Did you.. Have to throw your underwear in my face?" I asked softly.
"Well, it was the closest thing next to me so.. Yeah." He replied swiftly.
We stared at each other again, before we both cracked out laughing.
"You're such an idiot." I giggled.
"My dear Sneakers, my underwear suit you well, you should wear them more often." He chuckled.
We grinned to each other, him sitting over the top of me still while I was pinned below. I must admit, the position ran a tingle through my veins. Or maybe that was from the lack of blood flow pumping down through my legs.
"Lance.. I'm sorry.. About what I said.." I sighed. "I don't think you're a selfish prick.. You're actually a really cool guy.." I muttered.
It really has been a while since I've apologized to anyone.
He smiled softly. "Does this mean you'll come to the arcade?"
"Uhh.. No.."
We laughed again.
"Come on. Somewhere fun before you're test. Loosening up always helps me do better after studying all night." He sat back against my lap with a taunting smirk.
I thought for a moment. "Fine.. But only for a little while, then we have to go study again."
"Deal." He held out his hand.
I took it with a gentle shake.
"Now can you get off me? I'm starting to loose feeling in my toes."
"Right." He chuckled, sliding off to help me to my feet with one swift tug to my hand.
I shook out my hair with a huff and tugged at my pants uncomfortably.
"Hug it out?" Lance grinned.
"No." I held my hands out.
He proceeded forward anyway, arms out wide.
"I said no." I stepped backwards.
"Come oooon.." He cocked a brow charmingly, before snatching me up into his arms to squeeze me tightly.
My eyes bulged as he lifted me off the ground, before I let out a breath and fell limp. The pressure was taken off a little bit as I just laid silently in his arms, face buried in his shoulder.
It did feel pretty nice.
"Better?" He asked.
"Mm." I grunted.
He set me down with a smile. "Night, Sneakers."
I looked down, huffing softly. "Goodnight.."
I slithered into bed, turning off the light to fall asleep.
I have to admit, it was a pretty good night.
*****
The next day started like any other, it was the day before the test. The study group had all gotten together to prepare the final bit of our knowledge to see what we knew with a simple review game. The other girls didn't show up however, most of them had all gotten bored of studying, and just settled for what they had already done. That just left Cassidy, Juliana, Miguel, Rylee, Lance and I.
A simple review game that turned into a... Not so simple review game.
Thanks to Lance of course.
"Argumentative, Informative, Persuasive-" Cassidy read off her paper.
I stared at my textbook quietly. I'd already apologized to the group about yesterday after much hesitation, and a bit of coaxing from Cassidy. Today, I just tried to stay quiet, like always.
Miguel looked my way, giving my foot a small kick in order for me to look up. To my surprise, he began to mock Cassidy while she was speaking in her robotic like tone. I laughed quietly.
Lance glanced my way, then leaned back beside my chair.
"You know- if you wanted a distraction, you could've just asked." He grinned.
I rolled my eyes and leaned forward, away from him.
He looked around for a moment.
"This is boring." He stated abruptly.
Cassidy stopped reading to glance up at him, as did everyone else. I glared, not surprised. I was expecting him to do this.. Again.
"And what else do you expect us to do? Studying isn't fun." Cassidy leaned her head over her palm.
"Let's go have fun somewhere, loosen up a bit!" He stood up.
"We have to study.." Miguel muttered.
"You don't have to go." Lance smirked, causing Miguel to scowl.
"I guess we could use a break.. It's been 2 and a half hours and we've already finished a whole game and a half of review.." Cassidy shrugged.
Rylee and Julianna agreed without question.
"Okay then, sure. Where to?" Cassidy asked.
"Bowling ally." Lance pushed his chair in. "Pizza, prizes and pins."
I watched as one by one, everyone began to agree, and soon, they were all watching me.
"Come on Calvin, it'll be fun. You never go to anything like this." Juliana smiled.
"Yeah, like.. Throwing heavy balls at a bunch of pins on a big, slippery, loooong-" Rylee began before Cassidy placed a hand over her mouth.
"Less inappropriateness please?" She huffed.
Lance grinned at me while I sighed and stood up.
"I'll pass.. Thanks though." I looked down while heading towards the door, only for a hand to grip my arm and spin me around.
"You're not leaving this time Sneakers." Lance smirked.
"Sneakers.." I huffed.
"Would you rather me call you Skates? You won't be wearing those old Sneakers as long as we're in that bowling alley." He crossed his arms with another soft smile.
I looked down to my shoes. They aren't that bad. White Hightop Converse Sneakers. Sure, they may have lost their shine and a bit of their soul, but I've had them since Freshman year of Highschool. Too many memories to give up.
"Come on Calvin! It'll be fun!" Cassidy encouraged.
Miguel watched them for a moment, then looked to me.
"Let's give it a try Calvin. We might like it." He encouraged softly.
Before I knew it, all of them were telling me to come. It was probably a stupid choice, but I agreed.
"Yes! We're gonna have so much fun!" Julianna cheered.
She and Cassidy headed out the door, followed by Rylee and Miguel. Lance took my arm and lead me out.
"Hey, hey! I can walk myself you know!" I tugged at his grip, but he didn't budge,
Before I knew it, we were already down the road and heading for the bowling alley.
We walked through the doors, heading up to the front counter where Lance bought us all a wristband. The pass allowed us to do everything, roller skate, laser tag, mini golf, bumper cars, bowling, and the arcade. It also gave us access to VIP seating in a private room with an all you could eat snack buffet, fit with pizza, burgers, fries, chips, treats, sodas, and little keychain bonuses.
I have to admit, it was a really cool offer.
"Damn, they look good in purple." Rylee chewed at a stick of gum.
"How much were these wristbands anyway?" Cassidy asked, looking over the metallic purple bracelet.
"Affordable." Lance replied, looking off to the right.
Something about that look made me suspicious. How much did he really just spend?
"Come on." Lance urged, heading off through the main room towards a separate section aside from the bowling lanes. We walked up a short section of black metal stairs and down a hall of private rooms. Ours being number 3 of the 6.
Our room was huge! There was a giant table in the middle, a mini bar to the left of the room along side a self of snacks, a large window to look over the rest of the building, and two beanbags to the right of the room which sat in front of a massive flat screen TV with a PS4, Xbox one, Wii Switch, and Nintendo connected to it from within a little cabinet.
In other words.. Very impressive.
"Holy shit!" Cassidy cried out before clearing her throat apologetically.
Lance smirked in return. "Do as you please, nobody's listening."
"In that case- fuuuuck!" Julianna groaned. "This place is amazing!"
I couldn't help but smile myself, although the excessive use of profanity was not a like able style for me.
"I have to admit. This place is pretty cool." Miguel laughed.
"Pretty is an understatement." Cassidy flopped bag against one of the beanbags.
"How about a game of Mario cart Miguel?" Cassidy challenged with a grin.
"Oh you are so going down, girl." He grabbed a controller and sat in the second bag.
"Oh my god, they have Figi water!" Rylee cried, grabbing a bottle from the mini bar.
"Cheese balls! I used to eat these as a kid!" Julianna grabbed a bag and sat beside Rylee.
That just left Lance and I. The awkward tension was growing to be a bit too much as I hugged my books close to my chest. He seemed happy though, just looking at all of the others. I quickly averted my gaze when he looked at me.
"What are you going to do?" He crossed his arms.
"I don't know.. Stud-"
"No more studying." Lance cut me off, taking the books from my arms to set them up on top of the snack shelf. Way too high for me to reach. What a jerk.
We just watched each other for a moment, each with our arms crossed. Lance suddenly gave off a smirk.
"Come on." He took my hand to lead me off from the room without my consent, leaving me to stumble my way after him.
"You like nachos?" He asked, stopping in the snack line.
"Yeah, I guess.. Don't we already have nachos up in that snack shelf?.."
Lance was quiet for a short moment, as if thinking to himself, before responding.
"They're way better fresh." He grinned.
"If you say so.." I looked to the bowling lanes.
"You ever bowled before?" He leaned down to me.
I'd be lying if I said he didn't startle me.
"For my 9th birthday.." I shrugged.
"Ten years. Wow." He watched some of the people throwing their bowling balls down the lane and into the pins.
The crack of the two solids as they collided with one another was satisfying to the ear.
"We'll get you bowling again in no time." He encouraged.
"I know how to bowl Lance, I don't need help." I huffed.
"Are you really going to pass up the change of watching me push three of my fingers into your balls hole?" He cocked a brow.
My face erupted into a violent blush.
"Don't ever say that again." I ordered.
Lance laughed. "I'm kidding."
"You wish you weren't.." I muttered.
"What can I get you?.." The man at the front asked with disinterest.
"An order of nachos with the goods, and a super pretzel with cheese." Lance replied.
"What are 'the goods?'.." I asked.
"Cheese, beef, onions, jalapeño, corn, bell pepper, peanut, celery-"
"I'm allergic to peanuts." I replied with a sigh.
"Oh." Lance scratched his head. "Can you do the nachos without the peanut glaze?" He asked the cashier.
"Sure.." He tapped at his iPad. "Order number 34." He handed Lance a slip of paper.
"Thanks." He lead me to sit against the railing.
We were both silent for a moment.
"Anything else you might be allergic to that I should know about? So I don't poison you?" Lance grinned.
"Peanuts.. That's it." I shrugged. "Why would they put peanuts on nachos anyway?" I huffed.
"Peanut glaze adds this sort of nutty flavor to the beef. I think it makes it taste better." Lance dipped his head.
"Oh."
We were both quiet again, just thinking to ourselves. I'd never been out with Lance before, well, not out like that but, you know what I mean. I'm trying to say that he's not really that bad of a guy, or at least the stereotype that I thought him to be.
"Are you allergic to anything?" I asked warily, not used to starting conversations.
"I'm allergic to studying." He grinned softly.
"How'd you touch my books then?" I tilted my head.
"Those were your studying books!?" He gasped, holding his hands around his throat. "Oh no.. I-I'm going into.." He coughed. "Anaphylactic shock!.." He made a choking noise while strangling himself.
I smiled softly, and before I knew it, I emitted a small sound. It was almost like a laugh, but more like a squeak. It was a squagh.
Lance stopped his acting to watch me.
"Was that a laugh?" He asked suddenly.
"No!" I tried to hide my reddening face in my shirt. "I choked on my swallow."
"You totally just laughed!" He chuckled.
"Nu-uh." I shook my head.
"Admit it, I'm funnier than you thought." He smirked.
"Fine.. Maybe just a little bit.." I muttered.
"Hah!" Lance declared.
"Quit rubbing it in." I shoved his shoulder while he continued to snicker.
"34!" The cashier called out, while a cook set the order on the counter.
Lance rose with a huff, grabbing the order to pay for it, then lead me back up towards the room.
Once we opened the door again, Cassidy and Miguel were in the middle of a race, one of them being Yoshi, and the other being Wario.
"You're so gonna lose! I have you lapped!" Cassidy wildly mashed at her buttons.
"Don't speak so soon, Wario." Miguel smirked.
Rylee and Julianna were still binging out on snacks.
"Ugh.. These cheese balls are going to go straight to my ass." Rylee groaned, before pushing another handful into her mouth.
"The snack that smiles back, goldfish!" Jules grinned as she opened up a bag of the crackers.
"Hey! Welcome back! How was the date?" Cassidy asked with a grin.
"It was not a date. I got nachos and he got a pretzel." I corrected.
"Lance said otherwise." She shrugged. "We have both of those snacks on the shelf."
I looked at him for a moment as he gave off a cheeky grin.
"What can I say?" He shrugged.
"You're so difficult." I shook my head.
"Oh! Guess what! I made Sneakers laugh" Lance announced.
"You made Calvin laugh?" Cassidy looked over her shoulder at us.
"Is it really that big of a surprise?" I blushed softly with embarrassment.
Miguel smirked and used a power up, shooting past Cassidy and blowing Wario off the track.
"Oh Cassidyyyy!" Miguel taunted.
She turned around to see herself respawning.
"What?! No!" She shrieked, driving off after him.
I grinned softly in return with a small chuckle.
"There he goes again." Lance teased.
"Shut up." I shoved him away with a smile.
"Ready to loosen up and have fun?" He ran a hand through the hair at the top of my head, giving me a vicious scratch.
"Victory is mine!" Miguel leaped up to do a victory dance while Cassidy rolled her eyes.
"I want a rematch." Cassidy crossed her arms.
"What do you say? Calvin, you in?" Miguel looked at me.
I pushed Lance's hand away and looked around. They all seemed like they were having fun. Real fun. Eating or playing. And we still had bowling, the arcade, mini golf, laser tag, bumper cars, and the roller rink to do. Not to mention 4 hours to do so.
What can I say? I couldn't resist.
"Give me a controller." I smiled.
For the next 2 hours, we raced between activities. We leapt into the bumper cars to pound each other into the walls, giving ourselves and each other whiplash while laughing at our own stupidity. We smacked gold balls through a shirt course of neon glowing obstacles, aiming for the holes, only for the actual ball to go bouncing off an object and flying off somewhere else.
We battled each other to the death in laser tag, taking on our own silly names. I, being Feisty Ferret, Lance being Vicious Viper, Cassidy being Sneaky Sloth, Julianna being Wailing Walrus, and Rylee being Overlord Ocelot. We wore heavy vests and carried heavy plastic guns while running around to shoot at targets and other people, let alone each other. Every once and a while we'd bump into each other by accident and give away our position by laughing. Cassidy shot me for that one after I'd tripped over Lance who'd been sniping from the bridge. I came in easy 8th, while Lance came in breathless 1st.
We all had questions to ask about how he'd won. Maybe it was from all the sneak attacks. He really did move like a vicious viper.
The arcade was just as fun. He slipped our cards into each machine, working for the highest scores possible. We played Ski Ball, Racing, The Claw, Doodle Jump, Wheel of Fortune, Piano Tiles, Deal or No Deal, Fruit Ninja, Coin Master, Shooting Hoops, Dance Dance Revolution- I could go on. We won thousands of tickets between the 6 of us, along with some smaller toy prizes like stuffed animals and bouncy balls. We combined our tickets and came up with nearly 13,463. Cassidy nailed the hoops, Julianna destroyed Fruit Ninja, Rylee got the high score on Piano Tiles, Miguel wiped out Deal or No Deal, Lance owned the competition for both Ski Ball and this game where you shoot at zombie targets, and I won the one thousand ticket prize on doodle jump three times.
Bowling was the last thing we had to do, other than roller skating- which was a maybe one my part. I don't know how to skate, and I'm afraid of falling in front people and getting laughed at like I used to. I'll just say that I have to go to the bathroom or something and wait out the activity.
We're already three quarters of the way through the game, with Cassidy in the lead. I can't even count how many strikes she has, but I know at least that she's gotten a turkey and then some.
"Go Rylee!" Cassidy wooped.
"I just got a manicure! I'm not putting my fingers in the ball, I don't know where it's been!" She whined.
"Squirt some hand sanitizer in it." Julianna teased with a laugh.
Rylee narrowed her gaze and moved up to the lane where she pulled the guide up to roll the ball for her. The kids used it mostly.
She pushed the ball down the support and watched it roll down into the pins, knocking three of them down before it trailed off into the darkness behind the pins.
"In your face! I did it." She taunted.
"Please." Cassidy rolled her eyes and picked up her own ball, kicking the support aside as she cleared her throat. "Observe."
She wound up in a perfect stance, leaning forward and spun her wrist to right, spinning the ball from the edge to the spine as it cleared all ten pins in one easy sweep.
The TV flashed with confetti and emojis pinned with the word strike in the middle. She turned to bow to us.
"You guys better pick up the pace! Miguel is the only runner up with 90 to my 145." She smirked.
"Don't be surprised, I've never been good at bowling." Lance huffed, taking a sip of his root beer.
"I've played since I was 6 years old. I'm practically a natural." She flaunted.
"Why don't you join a bowling team or something?" Miguel asked.
She shrugged. "You think about what my parents would say if I went home for the holidays and told them that I'm on a bowling team?" She laughed. "They always wanted me to be sporty, by playing basketball and soccer, or volleyball and tennis- bowling, however, is not one of them."
Miguel rose to the plate for his turn in the meantime.
"You know how my parents are, pushy pushy. They're really good parents, they just want me to do things that I don't want to do." She sighed.
Lance looked at her. "Yours too?"
"Yeah.. I guess they just want the best for me but.." She shrugged.
"I feel that. My parents want me to be in business school."
"Ew." She sipped her root beer.
"You should've seen the looks on their faces when I told them that I got into Mirwell University." He laughed.
"Where did they want you to go?" Cassidy ran a hand through her hair and watched Miguel.
"Harvard." He rolled his eyes.
"Damn. What's that schools tuition per year, like.. 46 grand?"
"67 grand. That's for room and board, tuition, and every other fee."
"Crazy." She shook her head.
Miguel sat down after scoring a spare.
I just sat quietly, watching everyone take their turn. I was glad for my own, which actually gave me something to do while everyone else talked.
I rose quietly to grab my ball, which only weighed 8 pounds. Lance carried a 14, while Cassidy carried a 12. I tried lifting the 10, but even that was too much to carry with one arm.
I wound my arm up and swung it for the lane, my arm twisting involuntarily with the weight and sent it off far to the right. For once, the bumpers actually helped me, and bounced the ball back and forth down the lane. I watched in silence as it turned down the spine and crashed into the pins, sending each of them down, one by one.
I had thrown a strike!
I turned to let out a warriors cry, pumping my fists into the air. I'd never thrown a strike before, this was my first.
But of course..
Nobody was looking.
My mood dropped instantaneously as I headed for my seat again and watched my feet carefully.
"Lance, you're up." Julianna noted.
He rose for his turn, about to head past me before his hand reached out to grip around my thin bicep.
"Nice throw." He muttered with a grin.
I couldn't help but smile as he let me go to take his turn, leaving me to sit down.
My mood went right back up.
Last up was skating, my worst nightmare, and the one thing that I had been dreading this entire trip.
We stood at the counter, trading in our bowling shoes in exchange for skates. I didn't feel too nervous, since Juliana had never skated either. Cassidy said she'd help her. They both chose regular skates. Miguel had been skating for a couple years, he chose rollerblades. Rylee said she'd been skating since she was 3, rollerblades for her. Lance? I have no idea. He chose rollerblades too.
I just chose regular skates, but I wasn't going to wear them.
We took a seat at a bench just outside the walls of the rink, tying up our skates. Pop music from all kinds of singers like Katy Perry, Justin Bieber, Post Malone, P!nk, Ellie Golding, Billie Eilish, Lewis Capaldi, and Harry Styles played overhead as about 15 groups, whether that was singles, couples, or actual groups of three or more. All of them were gliding over the slippery floor with such ease and grace, it almost made me jealous.
Now was my time to escape.
"Uhm.. I have to go to the bathroom.." I jerked my thumb over my shoulder and turned to head for it.
"Aww! Come on Calvin! I know you better than that!" Cassidy smiled. "You won't know if you like it until you try it."
"I really am good.. Just go on without me." I pressed on, before Miguel skated in front of me, on the carpet. What a madman.
"You're not going anywhere. We're going to go scope out some hot man flesh and like it." He linked my arm with his own.
"H-Hot man flesh? Isn't that cannibalism?" I tugged at his grip as he pulled me towards the floor.
"Not if you're gay." He winked, looking around. "Look, there's a group of cuties over there." He pointed.
I followed his finger to see a group of roughly 5 guys from our college, all smoking hot and preying on most of the women rolling around the rink.
My face grew into a pink shade. "B-But I have to pee."
"Lies!" Miguel sat me down on the bench to tie my skates on.
"We'll see you out there!" Cassidy called, linking an elbow with Julianna who skated clumsily onto the floor with her.
Rylee glided off with ease, already spinning around and rolling backwards. Show off.
Lance followed after her quite hesitantly, seeming content in his own abilities as he skated off.
A beat began to rise within the music, 'Party Rocker Anthem' by LMFAO, just as Miguel had stood me up to lead me towards the rink door.
I tugged and resisted as much as I could while stepping back clumsily in my skates, before the rough carpet turned to a smooth flat surface. My knees bent inwards by instinct as my legs began to part outwards.
"I-I don't want to do this!" I cried over the loud music, trembling fearfully.
"Take a load off! Let's have some fun!" Miguel took my hand and began to skate slowly.
Party Rock is in the house tonight!
I struggled to keep up with him as he began to pick up the pace, enjoying himself while my feet clumped and glided outwards in a painful splits.
Everybody just have a good time!
"Miguel! Slow down!"
And we gon' make you lose your mind!
Miguel let go of my hand to spin around like a ballerina, drifting out of my reach as I desperately scrambled to grab him. Grab anything.
Everybody just have a good, good, good time!
I squeezed my eyes closed and gripped onto a fabric which closed in my hand, opening my eyes up to see Lance, grinning.
"You were going to take a tumble." He spoke over the music.
I let go of his chest and pushed at him to get away, only to stumble again and fall back into his arms.
"Never skated before?" He asked.
"No! It's why I didn't want to come out here in the first place!" I shouted warily.
Lance looked over his shoulder at Miguel who skated away like a fairy.
"Miguel leave you?"
"Yes." I huffed.
"He can collect all the man flesh he wants." He smiled, taking my hands to guide me off of him.
I resisted at first, still terrified of the fact of falling, but I eased into it. Lance skated backwards slowly, while everyone raced past us in a tornado like speed.
I gripped around his forearms tightly, fingernails digging into his skin as I watched my feet closely.
"Relax." He tilted my head up to look at him. "Don't look at your feet, just look at me."
I did as he said, my grip loosening in the process. I withered my hands down his arms again to just his hands, entwining my fingers in his warm embrace as a tingle radiated up through my bones and down my spine, causing me to tremble.
Man that felt good.
"See? You're doing great." He smiled.
"A-Am I skating?" I asked, still trembling s bit.
"You're skating alright." He laughed.
I grinned proudly and watched myself and my feet. They moved like ice skates, something I had done before.
"It's just like ice skating!"
"Just like ice skating, with no ice." He loosened his grip on my left hand to let go of it entirely, letting me drift to the left side of him as he turned to face forward again.
We started off slow, just drifting in and out, switching our feet back and forth to pick up a bit of speed. The faster we went, the more confident I grew. The music was loud and entertaining, filled with the laughs of other people skating. Miguel had stopped in front of the boys to flirt with one of them. It was easy to tell that he was very interested. Rylee was enjoying herself, spinning and twirling in the middle. Julianna and Cassidy were both struggling together, stumbling and even falling- causing them both to crack up in laughter.
Lance was watching them all too, then looked at me.
"Easier than you thought?"
"Easier than I thought.." I replied, stretching out.
"Want to go faster?"
"Yeah."
We both began to propel our skates a bit faster, still remaining steady and in control.
I couldn't help but dance a little to the music. I wasn't a pro at skating, but dancing was a hobby for sure.
Lances gaze was elsewhere though, his smile fading slightly as he looked at me quickly.
"Want to try skating by yourself?" He offered.
"Uh.. I don't-"
"I'm going to let go in 3.. 2.. 1.."
He released his grip entirely, causing me to stumble for a moment before regaining my balance as I rode out the rest of my speed before slowing to an almost complete stop.
"Hey! I did it!" I laughed, looking to my right to find him gone.
Where'd he go?
I glanced around at the groups of people both skating and not skating, weaving my eyes between them. I spotted him at the edge of the rink, talking to somebody. Taylor Lavoil, Darrel Hanson, and Vinny Crow, alongside a few girls who were either girlfriends of those said boys, or friends, no matter how much I doubted that.
Is that why he let go of my hand?
I'd show him.
I began to try and propel myself, copying the movements of those around me, in and out, push and roll. I began to speed up a bit, holding my hands out from my sides to balance my movements. I ended up putting them back down to look confident, gaining as much speed as I could to go around the rink once, twice, then three times.
I was doing it!
I watched Miguel spin around to roll backwards around the bend, but as confident as I was, I wasn't stupid enough to pull that.
I picked up the pace, racing past Lance and his stupid friend multiple times, but they didn't give me the time of day. I didn't care.
But I should've.
While my eyes were on them talking, I hadn't noticed the collision a girl made with the wall of rink, slamming her face into the side of it and causing a traffic jam. My instincts kicked in as I leaned up over her and landed back down with the weight of my ankles.
That caught Lances attention, but not for the right reason.
I stumbled and slipped on the angle that I had fallen on, my knees buckled and my ankles inverted as my skates screamed to a stop with a loud buffer and sent me flying at my top speed to the ground. My body twisted around as the back of my head slammed against the floor of the rink, sliding forward to a stop, and instantaneously knocked my vision to black.
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An extra long chapter to make up for some missed days! I hope you all enjoy!